Once Upon a Time
by Limonatta
Summary: . . : : "It's like a fairytale, is it not?... And eventually, all fairytales have happy endings. So you need not worry..." : : . .
1. part I

Author's Notes: Mental note: First week of school - not a good time to write a story. It makes your parents kinda annoyed if you stay up late (especially if the aforementioned parents are the ones taking responsibility for your safe and timely arrival to school. Whatever).

-UPDATE-: This fic has been slightly edited... if anyone is wondering why I'm reposting it. I got dissatisfied with the layout and stuff... proves how fussy I am, ne?

And, peoples, this is a VERY IMPORTANT announcement - I love you all, reviewers. :) Okay, that's IT. :P

Disclaimer: Detective Conan belongs to me! Yeah, totally. (Note the sarcasm)

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**~ o n c e . u p o n . a . t i m e ~**

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part I

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_Once upon a time…_

_There was a girl. She met a boy._

_He could always cheer her up, he was her best friend._

_There was a girl. She met a boy._

_He protected her, comforted her, and was there for her._

_They both _[_-----_]_ him…_

-

To Ran, Shinichi was her best friend, a friend that no one could replace, ever.

To Ai, Conan was her best friend, a friend that no one could replace, ever.

To Ran, Shinichi was her soul-mate, at the least, she couldn't imagine life without him.

To Ai, Conan was the only one that she felt so strongly about, since her sister died.

To Ran, Shinichi was the only one who could understand her as well as he did.

To Ai, Conan was the only one who could understand her as well as he did.

To Ran, Shinichi was the one and only person who could feel her pain how she does.

To Ai, Conan was the one who spent too much time worrying about other people's pain.

_They both _[_loved_]_ him…_

_-  
_

_Once upon a time… _

_There was a school. _

_Its name was Teitan Elementary, and it housed the classroom of Class 1B._

_Is this important? you may ask._

_Yes, it is. It is very important. And you will find out why, soon._

_And so now, let the story –the fairytale– begin._

-

"Ohayou, minna-san!" Kobayashi-sensei chirped at her students, sitting at their desks. It was the start of a brand new school day. Oh, what joy for that!

_Rise and shine!_

… Not.

"Sensei, ohayou gozaimasu," the children in class 1B dutifully replied.

"Today, we will be learning about fairytales!" Kobayashi-sensei smiled as the students in her class perked up (slightly). "Right now, which fairytales do you know?"

Many hands shot up, and (some of) the kids began calling out names.

"Cinderella!"

"Snow White!"

"Alice in Wonderland!"

"Jack and the Beanstalk!"

"Goldilocks!"

"Yes!" Kobayashi-sensei clapped her hands. "What about native Japanese ones? Do you know any?"

The flow of the fairytale titles didn't cease as the children called them out eagerly.

"Kaguya-hime!"

"The Snow Fairy!"

"Kachi Kachi Yama!"

"The Peach Boy!"

"And what about foreign fairytales?" Kobayashi-sensei suggested.

"Ali Baba?" a timid girl in the front row called out.

"Yes, yes!" Kobayashi-sensei grinned. "That's an Arabian fairytale. Any more?"

"The Boy Who Cried Wolf!"

"Spanish," Kobayashi-sensei smiled with satisfaction. "And what happens in all these fairytales? Can anyone tell me?"

Yoshida Ayumi put up her hand. "They all have happy endings!" she announced gleefully.

"That's right!" Kobayashi-sensei told everyone. "All fairytales have happy endings!"

The class was in silence as they digested this fact.

"And what if they don't?"

A voice interrupted the stillness. Everyone turned to look at the student who had spoken those words. The student by the name of Haibara Ai, who tilted her head to the side.

"They don't always have to have happy endings, do they?"

She had this look on her face, and although Kobayashi-sensei couldn't tell exactly what it was of, she could almost swear it was disbelief, or maybe boredom. No, it must be mind tricks, she told herself, but nevertheless, her mood had been dampened.

"Well, if they don't, then I guess that they're not called fairytales, are they?"

-

_Once upon a time…_

_There were two little kids. A boy and a girl._

_They weren't normal children. _

_They were special._

_Did they like being special? _

_Time will tell…_

-

"Yeah," Edogawa Conan said sarcastically. "You really had to go destroy all those innocent kids' happiness and fantasies."

"Well, well," Ai said mildly. "That's exaggerating. Happiness? Anyway, after all, as soon as I finished my comment, Kobayashi-sensei cheered them all up again, didn't she?"

They were in Professor Agasa's house. Conan was reading a mystery book (which he had already read twice already, but that was beside the point), and Ai was, well, flicking through a fashion magazine. _Vogue_, by the looks of it. Latest edition.

"Hmph." Conan made a sound that sounded half like a snort, half like a sigh. Conversation dissipated into thin air.

"And anyway," Ai said, interrupting the silence yet again. "I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand all the talk about fairytales and happy endings. When in real life it's so much different."

Conan glanced up involuntarily. "Huh?"

Then he sighed. "Well, yeah, I guess. Life is harsher than stories. Especially for teenagers shrunken into children."

Then Ai laughed.

"What's so funny?" he asked her, confused. _Don't tell me that it was something I said?_

"It's like a fairytale, is it not?" said Ai, a smile playing on her lips.

"Fairytale? What's like a fairytale?" Conan asked, bewildered.

"This. Our lives. Like you said. After all, who would think that two adults would be shrunken into children? It's exactly the thing that would happen in fairytales."

_In her psychotic mode again… I wonder if all scientists are like that? _Conan thought to himself. And because he actually didn't want the wrath of Haibara (who know what she'll do?) he kept his face straight and mouth shut.

(No one wants a crazy scientist on their trail, right? It's only logic.)

But… it might be true. What she was saying, that is. Who _would_ think that that could happened if it, well, hadn't happened?

He wouldn't have believed it himself.

"Hmm… I guess Mouri-san's the princess. And you're the handsome prince who's been cursed, and trying to get back to your princess and protect her, save her. It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Well, if I'm the prince, and Ran's the princess, then what does that make you?" Conan blurted out.

"Me? Hmm… well, I guess I'm the ugly evil witch. There's one in every fairytale. It's the one who casts spells on innocent people and turn them into frogs, if she doesn't kill them first."

"No! I mean, you're not evil… just… led astray," Conan argued. It _was_ true… it _was_, it _was…_

Was it?

"No," Ai shook her head. "Not led astray. Just pure poison."

"Haibara…" Conan laid his hand on her arm. She smiled at him, whether it was a smirk, or a sad smile, a self-pitying smile, a grimace, he was not sure.

"It's true," she said. "I'm the evil witch who'll be killed somehow, in some ghastly way. No matter what."

She says it calmly, as if she was telling someone else's story instead of what she was meaning – _hers_.

"The witch's sub-ordinates will find her somehow. And kill her. Or they'll betray her to everyone else. She'll be punished. She'll get killed.

Or she might even be killed by that good handsome prince, who's tried so hard to get back to his princess. He might decide that it's all too hopeless, all for nothing, and he kills her to get back at what she's done."

"Hey, Haibara!" Conan spluttered. "Snap out of it! This fairytale thing's gone too far! There's no way the prince will kill her!"

"Or is there…" Ai said, devoid of emotion. "Don't worry. Eventually, all fairytales have happy endings, so you need not worry…

But in the end, the witch will have no comrades, whatsoever. She'll be alone.

And she'll fade to nothing."

-

_Once upon a time…_

_There was a syndicate. An organisation. It's name…_

… _the Black Organisation._

_They rose. Able to evade detection, they were invincible._

_But all glory must come to an end somehow. And so then…_

_They fell._

-

He couldn't believe it.

He couldn't believe it, as he stood on the top of the building, of the Metropolitan Police, staring down, across the vast city of Tokyo, the blocks of buildings shining in the light of the morning sun.

_Morning sun – new beginnings_, he thought, and smiled with satisfaction.

He couldn't believe that the organisation had fallen, finally, eventually. Of course, he had always been determined to bring it down… but, well, he had been losing hope day by day.

Because really, what chance does a seventeen-year-old boy have to take down an enormous organisations with extensive contacts and networks all over the world?

But it seems like the impossible had become the reality, and the police all around the world rejoiced at such a dramatic decline in crime ever since the members of the Organisation had been brought down.

It was really fantastic, he thought. Almost surreal. Almost like… like…

"A fairytale ending."

He spun around, and was greeted with the sight of Ai. "How did you know I was here?" he demanded.

Ai rolled her eyes and walked towards him, leaning on the railing next to Conan. "It wasn't hard to guess. Not fit for the Sherlock Holmes of the twenty-first century."

They stayed in silence for a few moments.

"So, I guess you want it?"

Conan blinked at Ai. "What? What do I want?"

She sighed. "For someone who's supposed to be the greatest modern detective ever, you sure are dense.

It's the antidote, baka. The one thing that will make your magical fairytale complete. The one thing that will return you to your beautiful princess."

"Oh. Yes. That. Have you finished it?" he looked at her eagerly.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I have," she sighed. "Before I got the second pair of your glasses and tracked you down – again. What makes you think that you can bring down the Organisation single-handedly?"

"I'm sorry," he grinned at her sheepishly. "I just saw Gin and Vodka… so then I decided to tail them… and then they met Vermouth… and, well, you know the rest."

She rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

"So… the antidote?"

"Here." Ai fumbled in her pocket a bit. Not because she was looking for it, but because she didn't want to give it to him.

Not now. Not yet.

Because she knows that when she does, he'll go back to his princess, his angel. He won't remember her, won't want to. There'll be nothing left for her, here.

Suddenly, her eyes felt prickly, and she could feel tears filling up. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

_Don't cry. Not here. Not now. Not ever._

_Close your heart!!_

"Haibara…?"

Suddenly he was there, hand on her arm, peering into her eyes.

She couldn't take it any more.

"Here!" she gasped, and tossed the small flat cylindrical container at him.

Then she ran, ran out of his life…

_Forever…?_

She didn't know…

-

_Once upon a time…_

_There was a girl. She met a boy._

_He could always cheer her up, he was her best friend._

_There was a girl. She met a boy._

_He protected her, comforted her, and was there for her._

_They both _[_-----_]_ him…_

-

To Ran, Shinichi was her best friend, a friend that no one could replace, ever.

To Ai, Conan was her best friend, a friend that no one could replace, ever.

To Ran, Shinichi was her soul-mate, at the least, she couldn't imagine life without him.

To Ai, Conan was the only one that she felt so strongly about, since her sister died.

To Ran, Shinichi was the only one who could understand her as well as he did.

To Ai, Conan was the only one who could understand her as well as he did.

To Ran, Shinichi was the one and only person who could feel her pain how she does.

To Ai, Conan was the one who spent too much time worrying about other people's pain.

_They both _[_loved_]_ him…_

.TBC.

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	2. part II

Author's Notes: Hi guys! Thanks for all the reviews! Made me feel... _honoured_? Lolz!

Hmm... do I have a strange writing style? o.O someone said that I did. Just curious. XD

-UPDATE-: This chapter has been edited also, and hope you enjoy! *luvluvluvluv* :P

Disclaimer: Story + Disclaimer = Does not belong to 'author'. Still with me? ;P

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**~ o n c e . u p o n . a . t i m e ~**

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part II

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_Once upon a time…_

_There was a girl. She loved a boy._

_He disappeared. She wept._

_And when he appeared again…_

_There was nothing else she could ask for..._

_Life had been hell without him._

-

"Shin… Shin… ichi…

Is that really you? Really?"

Ran stared at Kudo Shinichi, _the_ Kudo Shinichi. "Where _were_ you, all this time? I've been so _worried_ about you! Do you know how much time I spent… wondering… if something _terrible_ happened to you? Do you? I've been so… so…"

She collapsed against him, head on his chest, sobbing.

"Calm down, calm down…" Shinichi murmured. "It's all okay now… No need to cry anymore… baka…" he stroked her hair softly.

She moved her head towards him… and slowly, slowly… their heads came closer together…

Their lips interlocked in a smooth motion.

It was as if everything that happened all this time ago, it was as if they didn't happen. It was as if Shinichi didn't leave at all, as if everything had been perfect.

Of course, if it wasn't perfect before, it was perfect now.

It felt so right.

Right?

"_And anyway," she says, interrupting the silence yet again. "I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand all the talk about fairytales and happy endings. When in real life it's so much different."_

"_It's like a fairytale, is it not?" says she, a smile playing on her lips._

"_Or is there…" she says, devoid of emotion. "Don't worry. Eventually, all fairytales have happy endings…_

_So you need not worry…_

_But in the end, the witch will have no comrades, whatsoever. She'll be alone. _

_And she'll fade to nothing."_

Suddenly it didn't feel so right. He broke off the kiss.

"Shin… ichi?" Ran asked.

"I'm sorry." He muttered. "There's something I forgot I had to do… I'm late already."

"Oh, well… see you later, Shinichi!" Ran said, faux-cheerfully.

"Goodbye," he replied.

-

_Once upon a time…_

_There was a girl. She… didn't have a childhood._

_She didn't love – save for her sister._

_She didn't hate. Emotionless._

_She met a boy, who managed to melt her ice-cold defenses…_

_And slip into her heart._

-

"What's your name?"

_Miyano Shiho._

"Fujiwara Azusa," she said, smiling at the woman behind the desk at customs twirling her long black hair (wig). Yes, you read right. _Smiling._ (She had to keep her disguise solid, as big a pain as it was. She didn't exactly fancy being shot – again.) "Here's my passport."

The woman looked at it for a second, then waved her through.

She walked a few steps, and then sat down at a bench, wincing in pain, as she clutched at her side.

She had been shot about an hour earlier. She didn't know if it was a random shooting, but she suspected it was probably the members of the Black Organisation who had evaded detection.

Perhaps it was because she was coming out of the police building, maybe the gunman had recognized her, and thought that she was going to tell the police about all the members.

And so now she had to leave. She couldn't depend on that baka tantei anymore, he was already going back to that girl. And she most certainly couldn't lead the gunman to them…

… they'll get their fairytale ending, at the price of hers.

_(if she even had a fairytale ending to start with)_

-

_Once upon a time…_

_There was a boy. He loved a girl._

_He loved his childhood friend._

_He met another girl. _

_He loved her, that fallen angel._

_And he had to choose._

-

"Passengers on Flight 103 on CZ-123, you may board the plane now. Repeat: Passengers on Flight 103 on CZ-123, you may board the plane now."

Shiho winced at the loud voice projecting out of the speakers. It was too soon, it was much too soon. She wasn't prepared to leave Japan yet.

But _not_ leaving wasn't an option.

She sighed, and hoisted her handbag over her shoulder. Then she headed towards the queue that had assembled in front of the gates.

-

"Dammit!" Shinichi cried as he slammed the phone down.

He had gone to Professor Agasa's house, only to find it empty. He had called Agasa-hakase, only to find that he didn't know anything about Ai's absence. And then finally, he had found a note.

_Gone for good. Don't look for me. Hakase, stay healthy. Don't eat junk food all the time. Kudo, be happy with Mouri Ran._

_I'm not running away. This is my destiny._

_It was nice to have known you all._

_From Haibara Ai_

-

"Haibara!"

She ignored the voice at first, blaming her mind for her over-active imagination.

"Haibara!"

There it goes again. She forced herself not to look behind.

It couldn't be _him_, could it?

Um, yes, it could. Especially when a hand clamps onto her shoulder and spins her around.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she snapped at the detective. She didn't _mean_ to sound so… well, angry… actually, maybe she did. She had worked on the antidote so hard, and created it… _for him_, to return to his previous like with _her_, and here he comes, running back.

Well, whatever. She was going, and when Miyano Shiho was, she _was_.

"What do you mean what I'm doing here? I should be asking you the same thing!" Shinichi said, a hurt tone in his voice.

_Whatever. He can act all sad-puppy-like, and although his millions of fangirls would just _swoon_, I'm _not_._

"Well, duh, this is the airport. When you go to an airport, you are either here to see people off, or to go on a plane yourself and fly to somewhere else."

"That's not what I meant."

"You should say what you mean the first time you say it."

There was silence for a few moments.

Then Shinichi sighed.

"Are you really going to go?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes," she replied, twirling the sleek dark hair of her wig around her fingers. Which reminded her. How _did_ he recognize her?

"Will anything change your mind?" he asked, scared of the answer.

"No," she replied patiently. How many times does she have to say it to this baka detective? Wasn't he actually meant to be, well, _smart_?

"Will this change your mind?"

Suddenly, without warning, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight against him. He leant down, and pressed his lips against hers.

The kiss lasted for one bliss moment before she broke it off.

"Stop!" Shiho cried, pushing him away from her. "You're making it all worse!" she blinked as tears began to form in her eyes. "I've done everything for you to go back to your old life, and _this_ is how you repay me!"

She turned away as tears began streaming down her face. People passing by gave her strange looks, but none stopped to give her a hand. _Private moment, _they thought._ Lover's quarrel._

"Is this a bad way of repaying you?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

_Damn him, damn him, damn him_, Shiho screamed in her head. _Stupid detective. Stay away from me!_ She tossed her head, and stalked away, head held high.

"Wait!" Shinichi called after her. After he reached her side, he let himself pant a bit, before looking at her.

"Would you mind if I came with you instead?" he asked cockily.

"What?"

"How do you think I was able to come to this part of the airport without buying a ticket?"

_Wha-? He was going to come along?-_

_-Damn him!_

But nevertheless, she felt her sour mood (and defenses) melting, and her anger faded.

Shinichi grinned at her, and grabbed her hand. "Come on! Let's go!"

Shiho frowned a bit, before letting herself smile.

_Maybe…_

-

_Once upon a time…_

_There was a boy. He met a girl._

_The girl didn't believe in happy endings._

_The boy did._

_He vowed to himself that he'll make a fairytale ending for them._

_And that they'll live happily ever after…_

_.FIN._


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